Win in Atlanta sends 49ers to Super Bowl

NaVorro Bowman reached out his left hand and with one swat knocked away 18 years of frustration.

Years of losing, years of being a laughingstock, years of failing to live up to the legends of the past – they all tumbled to the Georgia Dome turf along with Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan’s desperate fourth-down pass.

The 49ers‘ bench exploded in delirium. The offensive players ran onto the field to celebrate. The defensive players high-stepped toward the opposite end zone.

And the man who wrought this stunning transformation of the 49ers stayed – as he likes to say – maniacally focused. Jim Harbaugh screamed at his players to come back to the bench, to get off the field. There was still more than a minute to play – a lifetime as Harbaugh, who once earned the nickname Captain Comeback for his own on-field exploits, knows – and the 49ers couldn’t afford a penalty.

The 49ers had waited 18 years. An entire generation has been waiting all their lives to see the 49ers in another Super Bowl. They could wait another 69 seconds to celebrate.

To laugh. To hug. Or, in the case of owner Jed York, to cry on live television.

Brother vs. brother

The 49ers are going to the Super Bowl for the sixth time in franchise history. They will face the Baltimore Ravens, creating an intriguing situation in a game that will be hyped from every angle for the next two weeks. Jim Harbaugh will square off against his older brother, John Harbaugh, in a game already being called the Har-Bowl.

For Jim Harbaugh, it will be a deeply personal quest for a sixth silver Lombardi Trophy to add to the 49ers’ display case. His team will try to cap the greatest four-month stretch in San Francisco sports history.

Guard Alex Boone was wearing a San Francisco Giants shirt as he headed for the team plane. He claimed he wasn’t wearing it for good world championship juju, but it sure couldn’t hurt. A World Series championship and a Super Bowl in the same school year? Fans are already wondering who’s going to drive Colin Kaepernick’s car in the parade.

The 49ers’ route to New Orleans, the site of their blowout victory over Denver in Super Bowl XXIV 23 years ago, has been anything but predictable.

With the dramatic 28-24 come-from-behind victory over Atlanta, the largest comeback in an NFC Championship Game and the third biggest road comeback in playoff history, the 49ers claimed the NFC title. They moved one step further than they did last season and, in the process, validated Harbaugh’s gamble of switching midseason from experienced quarterback Alex Smith to untested Kaepernick.

Making just his ninth start, Kaepernick was as cool-blooded and tough-shelled as his pet tortoise, Sammy. Down by 17 points after just more than 15 minutes to a Falcons offense that Harbaugh described as “perfection,” Kaepernick channeled his coach’s past NFL self and directed a monster comeback.

“We just knew we had to score,” Kaepernick said. “Going out on the field frantic isn’t going to help you. You have to stay calm.”

With the Falcons taking away Michael Crabtree most of the afternoon and Kaepernick finding his own running lanes sealed off, Kaepernick looked for tight end Vernon Davis deep and saw running lanes open up the middle for Frank Gore.

Niners claw back

The 49ers pulled within 10 points, then three, then fell behind again by 10 at the half. Davis gave an emotional halftime speech and the 49ers put together a long scoring drive to open the third quarter and cut the deficit to three. They got the opportunity to tie the game, but David Akers missed a 38-yard field-goal attempt.

Finally, a fourth-quarter 9-yard run up the middle by Gore gave the 49ers their first lead of the game. It was up to the defense to hold on to it. And during a timeout on the Falcons’ final real drive, Kaepernick went out to talk to his defense.

Though the 49ers have mostly jumped out early in their victories this season, Gore was never worried.

“We’re built for this type of game,” he said. “We’re tough. It’s hard to break us. If we’re down, we’re not giving up.”

That resilient attitude was instilled in the core of the team – Gore, Patrick Willis, Davis, Justin Smith – who endured so many years of losing together.

“It was a long eight years of struggling, struggling, struggling,” Gore said. “I knew what we had in the locker room. We just finally got the right guys to lead us.”

The right guy was Harbaugh, who inherited a 6-10 team packed with hungry, motivated players and gave them the tools to win. Working without the benefit of an offseason because of the NFL lockout, he took the team to a conference title game.

But the 49ers, in retrospect, say they were unprepared. Too excited.

“It all happened so fast,” York said.

Following legends

Now, in his second year, Harbaugh has taken the 49ers to the territory occupied by past legends like Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott and Steve Young.

Some of those legends were on hand to witness the moment. Eddie DeBartolo Jr., Charles Haley and Bryant Young were honorary captains for the game. DeBartolo predicted a lopsided victory, saying, “This is just a warm-up game.”

The Falcons didn’t cooperate with that story line. There was nothing easy about the win, just as there hasn’t been much easy this season.

But at the end, Harbaugh got the stop from his defense that he needed.

“We rose up,” he said, tweaking the Falcons motto of “Rise Up Atlanta.”